Originally posted by AKIron
I have children and grandchildren and hoping before I die even greatgrandchildren. I would not be a sore burden upon future generations and I'm doing what I can to avoid that and would even go suffering quietly into the night if it meant their well being. Allowing a government to visit upon them pain and false promises in their declining years I may not suffer in silence.
Too late to be thinking about it now. The die is cast. 10,000 people will be added every day to the Social Security out basket and the greed of the boomers could very well strike flames of resentment in the younger folks who will have to pay more. The Boomers are going to demand their money because we're greedy mothers, on average. Just because you don't want to place a burden on your family doesn't mean everyone else isn't happy to do it.
Having been hoodwinked into needing two incomes for a family and spending more than is made can only be bad. The savings rate in the US is negative. How can the younger ones save in the future when they can't save now? The savings fairy?
The government is going to raise taxes, reduce or extend the time to start benefits and you'll still be digging a hole. It's going to a competition between corporations and people for the government handouts, and you aren't organized enough to lobby politicians, so the corporations are going to win.
The government prefers that you just go back to work, continuing to pay taxes, and work until you drop dead. But, they'll call it the "Older American Empowerment Act" or "The Free Market Retirement Security System" or some other such nonsense.
The other technique is to print some more money. Ouch. That will hurt. Foreign investment in US bonds has taken a sharp downturn lately and inflation is going to accelerate the pain.
Who said Freedom and Capitalism? You're living in a high school history book if you think todays economy is Capitalism or a free market.
Anyway, to be honest, I doubt the US will be in its current form in 2050 anyway.
Calling it America instead of its name, The United States of America, or the US is interesting. It dissolves the "United" part of the name and ignores the "States" part. Both of those words were there for a reason.
The US has no unifying culture or goals anymore. Disparate interests are what have torn all nations and cultures apart. Without some common traditions and goals, a society is destined to divide. Sometimes societies are reset under a different structure and sometimes they just break up into regions divided by something - religion, ethnicity, etc. Wars cannot be the only rallying point of a culture.
The genius of the founders, framers and writers of the Constitution was that they understood and predicted that disparate goals in the future would happen and that dividing the nation into regions with common interests and cultures was not to be feared. In fact, it didn't matter to them. Some even expected western areas to become a separate country.
What did matter was that the original states were united in the goal of limiting the power of the federal government. People could live in the societies they chose to create in states, and the needs and values of the people in smaller regions could be affected efficiently. The founders did not fight a war of independence just to hand it over to a handful of lawyers appointed for life, or temporary federal managers. The federal entity was to issue currency, make treaties, facilitate trade, deliver mail and provide for a united defense of the United States against foreign invasion. That's about it. Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness is what you did within the state you chose to live in.
That's why they offered up a mechanism to change the government and asked that future generations do just that, when it becomes necessary. Unfortunately, people today are comatose from nonsense manufactured by TV, Hollywood and Washington DC.
The US is middle aged and large, not just in girth. Scale does matter. Look at older societies and you'll see smaller sizes or more things in common among its members. The large older societies, China, India, Russia, etc. have gone through turmoil and/or divisions because large societies are dysfunctional without real common interests. Strong control over large groups of people and "directing" large societies by fear or force - monetary or by the barrel or a gun - is part of recurring history.
